NVRH First VT Hospital to Receive Prestigious Prism Nursing Award

Thursday, September 13, 2018

The Medical Surgical (Med-Surg) Unit of Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital is the first hospital in Vermont to receive the Academy of Medical Surgical Nurses (AMSN) PRISM Award®. This prestigious honor stands for Premier Recognition in the Specialty of Med-Surg and recognizes the collective achievements and contributions of the NVRH Med-Surg nursing staff.

“The Med Surg staff at NVRH have worked very hard over the past two years to create the best experience for all of our patients,” said Sharon Mallett, NVRH Director of Med/Surg/Pediatrics/Infusion. “But we couldn’t do it alone, the overwhelming support throughtout the hospital is what makes the Med surg unit at NVRH so unique. We take pride in what we do here, and we are thrilled to receive this national recognition.”

Applications are blinded and peer reviewed by a team of medical-surgical nurses. The criteria includes; leadership, recruitment and retention, evidence-based practice, patient outcomes, healthy practice environment, and life-long learning activities. NVRH scored 540 points out of a possible 600 and deemed exemplary in 4 out of those 6 criteria. The review team made the following comments about these NVRH nurses:

Your unit, a unit in a small critical access hospital is doing well without the immediate resources of a big university hospital.We see great leadership and structures that empower and encourage collaboration.We see creative, effective use of resources and staff.Nurses and LNA’s are engaged and flourishing in a supportive environment that encourages education, professional development, and recognition or excellence.It is evident that this unit has excellent patient outcomes and places a high priority on evidence-based practice.You have some unique recognition programs. The Med Surg VIP of the month/VIP of the Year program recognizes outstanding RN’s provides an opportunity for peers to evaluate colleagues and gives an award that will eventually benefit the entire unit in some way.We agree that your Med-Surg nursing team has overcome many obstacles and has beaten the odds at changing the culture within an organization. “PRISM celebrates the exceptional, I believe we provide exceptional care at NVRH every day and being a recipient helps recognize our commitment to our mission of providing high quality care,” said Seleem Choudhury, NVRH Chief Nursing Officer/VP Professional Services.

The AMSN PRISM Award®, is co-sponsored by the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses (AMSN) and the Medical-Surgical Nursing Certification Board (MSNCB) who review applications from individual acute care unit with a primarily adult and/or elderly patient population with medical-surgical diagnoses. Together they identify and celebrate medical-surgical units that achieve sustained excellence.

Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital is located in St. Johnsbury in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. We are a community, not-for-profit, acute care, critical access hospital. We are one of two Vermont hospitals designated as a Baby FriendlyTM hospital by the United Nations. We provide primary and preventive care, surgical and specialty services, inpatient and outpatient care and 24-hour, physician staffed emergency services. We serve just over 30,000 people in the Caledonia and Southern Essex Counties in Vermont and employee 600.